From Denny: For twenty years the American public has been fed up with the partisan bickering, lack of political spine from the Democrats to fight the takeover of our government from the lobbyists and Big Business and lack of real governing to do anything for the average American coming from the Republicans who just want to line their pockets and hold onto to power indefinitely.

President Obama decided to walk into the political ambush and give the Republicans the chance they have been claiming they don't have: the ear of the President. Republican lawmakers spend too much time lying just to stay in office instead of taking care of the people's business.

Now it's in the Republicans' court to prove they can be bipartisan. Personally, I don't hold out much hope for cantankerous stubborn arrogant people to change their tactics. However, they can no longer get away with this particular lie as it's now on news videos beaming all over the world.

As to the most recent lies they don't have any provisions in the health bill, well, nothing could be farther from the truth. Try a few hundred of their proposals are in it, all of which they must not believe in too much because not one of them voted for the very bill they crafted.

One thing is for sure, Prez Obama is finally out there establishing himself as top dog with the local junkyard dogs. While the Republican dogs are still sneering and snarling at Obama, one thing is now cemented: Obama is the leader of the pack and challenging him will get them nowhere.

Good going, Mr. President. It's about time you got aggressive and made the struggle of wills public.

People can say what they want about this President but one thing is for sure - the man has a great sense of humor about his own situation and life in general! A real sense of humor about yourself is one way to handle stress well and keep your balance. Take a look at what he had to say recently that gave a few grins, referencing his showdown with the House Republicans:

30 January 2010

From Denny: This has been an interesting week. The State of the Union address by President Obama basically summed up how the Republicans have been screwing over the entire country in every aspect of our lives and how much fun the Republicans have had screwing over Prez Obama at every turn while he continues to be inclusive and gracious to them.

Let's see, then our very own highest court in the land decided toscrew overthe American people by letting loose the floodgates of the greedy Big Business monopolies to fund elections and completely control the politicians elected. Granted, the corrupt basically control most of the politicians, all of the Republicans and far too many of the Democrats.

And the most recent group to get screwed over? The print publishing industry. Those adorable hold-in-your-hand books may soon be no more. Why anyone is shocked is the surprise. Come on; we all grew up on Star Trek and Sy-Fy spin-off shows where they featured hand-held computers and digital books decades before computers were any smaller than a football field, filling whole cavernous rooms like over at NASA. Of course, comparing Apple CEO, Steve Jobs, to God is a bit of a stretch - OK, it's downright creepy. :)

Take a look and chuckle for the day at how the cartoonists responded to this week's news stories:

*** THANKS for visiting, come back often, feel free to leave a comment, a big thank you and shout out to current subscribers - and if you are new to this blog, please subscribe in a reader or by email!

29 January 2010

*** Poem about remembering the children of the world need our help. Who are the orphans of the world and what are we going to do about it?

*** BLOG CARNIVAL: When you write a poem about the orphans in the world I'll be glad to add your link to this post! Contact me, Denny Lyon, at this email address: warriorspearl@gmail.com or on Twitter: DennyLyon7. Keeping this blog carnival open until Valentine's Day so you have plenty of time to brain storm and craft a good write!

Blog Carnival Poem Links:

Mystic Dave

From Denny: Poetry is an odd form of writing as your brain goes off in different directions. That's what you get from a university degree - it can get in the way of some good writing. :) Sometimes, you wonder where the writing process will take you...

This time, like so many others, my rational side of the brain had it all mapped out and structured as to how to write this poem. What I always find amusing about myself is the internal dialogue going on whenever I write.

The spiritual non-verbal side of the brain, the right side, asserts itself and directs me to go on over to flickr to look for photos to illustrate the poem. The rational left brain falls for this ruse every time and dutifully hikes on over to flickr, hunting for the photos like some obsessed blood hound on a 500 mile scent.

Of course, the non-verbal, visual, spiritual side right brain is running the show the whole time. As all the photos are picked out and I turn my attention to writing the poem it was soon clear that the previously devised angle of how to approach the poem - and the words already written - got tossed in the trash. As usual, the right brain won the day and "we" went simple.

Originally, my thoughts were with the Haitian orphans, those orphaned long before this earthquake and the many thousands since the disaster struck. I've been watching too many news videos about international adoptions of Haitian children that they have been uppermost in my mind - and prayers. The pressing need to get them out of the disaster zone until the country has a fighting chance to rebuild is urgent so they are not lost to slavery or the sex trade.

Once I visited flickr there were a lot of UNICEF and other relief agencies' photos of kids in poverty, child soldiers in Africa, children starving from famine, children affected by AIDS, children abandoned from war, children imprisoned in child labor and children kidnapped or sold into the sex trade. So, I thought I'd write about more than Haiti. I wrote about the world. And, it's even a short poem...

*** How can you help? A few dollars a month can help feed, educate and house an orphaned or at risk child. When a disaster like Haiti is first in the news the donations come pouring in at a rapid rate. Many relief agencies will tell you that the time they most need donations is when the news crews have packed up shop and gone home - people start to forget when the focus is no longer immediate.

The donations are needed all year long as these problems are long term. Who can't afford $5 a month as a donation all year long? Skip the occasional candy bar or Starbucks coffee and send that $5 along to help a child. You might think it is too small an amount but the charity knows they can make great use of it for one child.

There are a lot of relief agencies who have been around for decades, good people of an international effort, doing good in the world. Here's a great list of charities from many countries and religions who have a good track record of using donations wisely that I put up for a Haiti post. They have been at work on poverty and child issues for a long time: 67 Charities to Donate

*** BLOG CARNIVAL: When you write a poem about the orphans in the world I'll be glad to add your link to this post! Contact me, Denny Lyon, at this email address: warriorspearl@gmail.com or on Twitter: DennyLyon7. Keeping this blog carnival open until Valentine's Day so you have plenty of time to brain storm and craft a good write!

*** THANKS for visiting, come back often, feel free to leave a comment, a big thank you and shout out to current subscribers - and if you are new to this blog, please subscribe in a reader or by email!

28 January 2010

From Denny: The outpouring of donations worldwide for the relief of suffering in Haiti following a 7.0 devastating earthquake is incredible. The following are a list of 67 well-known established charities to which you can donate safely.

The Mobile Giving Foundation has received over $30 million in text pledges from cell phone donors the past two weeks. Even the Pew Research Center was well impressed and threw out some statistics:

14% donated by text message12% donated by phone23% donated via the web 5% donated via email39% donated in person via a church or other group

Here's something I doubt any of us thought about when we donated by text message or phone: how long will it take for the phone companies to send out that donation? Turns out it can take from 30, even up to 60 days to transfer customers' contributions, which is then added to the mobile phone bills.

The biggest carriers like Verizon Wireless, AT&T, Sprint and T-Mobile have all decided to expedite those donations.

Here's each company's status:

Verizon Wireless: Last Friday, 22 January, they transferred $2.98 million. Today, 28 January, they transferred $4.84 million. Jeffrey Nelson declared the campaign "the largest outpouring of charitable support by texting in history — by far. In all of 2009, all mobile giving (via texting) to all charities totaled just under $4 million for the year."

AT&T: Donations are up to $10 million. The company says they will "advance payment of verified texted donations" to the Red Cross.

Sprint: Donations so far are $3.1 million. By Friday, 29 January, they will advance 80% of the donations with the remaining 20% placed into the usual 30 to 90 day settlement cycle.

*** THANK YOU FOR YOUR DONATIONS - even the smallest amount delivers a huge impact!

*** THANKS for visiting, come back often, feel free to leave a comment, a big thank you and shout out to current subscribers - and if you are new to this blog, please subscribe in a reader or by email!

27 January 2010

From Denny: With the whole world watching the tragic news unfold in Haiti this week after the earthquake, I figured we all could use a refresher course in positive thinking. Of course, I managed to find some cheeky versions of positive thinking for tickling mind food as well. What follows are some awesome upbeat thoughts to help propel us through the work week and to keep doing what we can for the folks in Haiti. The world has responded so beautifully to their plight, renewing the best in humanity.

I also stumbled upon a wonderful photographer over at flickr who posted these incredible pieces in the Creative Commons area. His name is Victor Brezrukov and he is no stranger to upheaval and uncertainty. He was born in the Ukraine, lived in Kazakhstan, eventually settling in Israel. He sells prints at his page on redbubble.com, go here.

* I am an optimist. It does not seem too much use being anything else. - Winston Churchill

* I have learned to use the word impossible with the greatest caution. - Wernher von Braun

* The test of a first-rate intelligence is the ability to hold two opposed ideas in the mind at the same time, and still retain the ability to function. One should, for example, be able to see that things are hopeless and yet be determined to make them otherwise. - F. Scott Fitzgerald

* Many of life's failures are people who did not realize how close they were to success when they gave up. - Thomas Edison

* We do not see things they are. We see them as we are. - Talmud

* To be wronged is nothing unless you continue to remember it. -Confucius

* One man has enthusiasm for 30 minutes, another for 30 days, but it is the man who has it for 30 years who makes a success of his life. - Edward B. Butler

* The mind is like a river; upon its waters thoughts float through in a constant procession every conscious moment. You stand on a bridge over it and can stop and turn back any thought that comes along. The art of contentment is to let no thought pass that is going to disturb you. - Dr. Frank Crane

* I had the blues because I had no shoes until upon the street, I met a man who had no feet. - Ancient Persian Saying

* If you don't think every day is a good day, just try missing one. - Cavett Robert

* The only disability in life is a bad attitude. - Scott Hamilton

* If you aren't fired with enthusiasm, you will be fired with enthusiasm. - Vince Lombardi

* There is nothing so easy but that it becomes difficult when you do it reluctantly. - Publius Terentius Afer

* In the depth of winter I finally learned that there was in me an invincible summer. - Albert Camus, Lyrical and Critical Essays

* Let us rise up and be thankful, for if we didn't learn a lot today, at least we learned a little, and if we didn't learn a little, at least we didn't get sick, and if we got sick, at least we didn't die; so, let us all be thankful. - Buddha

* To everyone is given the key to heaven; the same key opens the gates of hell. - Ancient Proverb

26 January 2010

*** The real reason Americans are so intensely angry at President Obama and Congress is because for the entire first year of this "change" presidency they gave away power to those famous for abusing power: the Republican Party and Big Business.

From Denny: For anyone who was naive enough to think the Republicans would let go of power willingly - and choose to cooperate for the good of the country - or that this new President would be able to solve any of the massive problems in one year, well, they were unrealistic. It took more than eight years of Bush and 25 years of a Republican dominated Congress to get America into this rabbit hole and it's going to take more than a couple of good years to pull us out.

At the rate the Republicans are throwing the taxpayers all off the cliff the Democrats had better buckle down and start working fast and furious. Enough of the niceness thinking Republicans will cooperate if you talk sweet to them. Get real. A junkyard dog is a junkyard dog even when you dress him up in a suit.

Get tough and get real. The Republicans don't respect nice. All they respect is tough and hard-nosed strictness like Speaker of the House, Nancy Pelosi. They hate her which means they fear her. Obama could take a lesson from her. Either that or the country needs to hire a dominatrix to discipline the Republican Party. Oh, wait a minute, Louisiana Senator David Vitter probably already has one on retainer. Maybe he will loan her out on a pro-bono basis. Prez Obama and his team have walked on egg shells long enough while real people are losing their jobs, their homes and their savings to Big Business who are taking unfair advantage.

That anemic credit card legislation Congress passed a year ago just motivated the banking industry to jack up everyone's interest rates on a whim, changing all the rules of the original contracts with their customers. And all the banks had to do was send the customer a fine print notification they changed the rules? And you wonder why the news keeps reporting there is a public revolt against paying mortgages and credit cards now? If changing the rules of the contracts is good enough for the banks, then it must be good enough for the customers too.

Who gave Obama this really bad advice about bailing out Wall Street in the first place? Who advised Obama to go moderate on Big Business? Hmmm... "do ya think?" it could be those same advisers are planning to return to Wall Street and want to cultivate some goodwill for their wealthy return? Come on; Big Business is a behemoth that steam rolls over everyone it can. Why has Obama not stopped all those Big Business job visas, replacing American workers when our economy is so fragile?

Yes, jobs loss, jobs creation and the economy is what is utmost in the upper mind of Americans. People are frustrated at where they are in life as they watch the economy slide down for them but huge bonuses for Wall Street with taxpayer monies. One note though: just how many of those same very frustrated people goose-step marched along with the Bush-Cheney duo when things were going well and voted them into that disastrous second term? Those voters should not be taking their anger out on Obama but rather need to kick themselves around the block a few times in the driving rain.

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The Social Poets

*** News, intelligent politics, American and world politics, common sense political opinion with humor, original poems from a (female) Social Issues Poet (SIP), funny quotes that make you think. *** Email : warriorspearl@gmail.com.

*** Join me for coffee and on Google Friend Connect too! - Denny Lyon, a Louisiana liberal blogger (yes, there is such a political animal in Republican country), writing on the right side of sanity, pushing our government to give us their very best and nothing less.

About Me

Bored with homogenized journalism? Yeah, me too which is why I started all my blogs. Deep thinking of the news and how it affects our lives along with lots of humor posts and much more from my 24 blogs. A free to read online newspaper from independent journalist blogger Denny Lyon. Sit back, relax, get informed, cook a little and laugh a lot: http://dennysnews2.blogspot.com - where all the blogs link so you can peruse for your interests.

I'm a hybrid journalist-blogger which befuddles the publishing and journalism industries that are in serious flux these days - OK, the publishing houses have been melting down. What is not to understand? Time to rock on and catch up with the fast moving times. Hmmm... maybe I have Tiger or Dragon blood after all. :)

Social Issues Poet (SIP), Google searched as
"The Social Prophet," abstract artist, photographer, life philosophy and spirituality writer, great cook.

Writing eclectic interests on world news, American politics, great simple food and recipes, chocolate as the other food group, throw up some of my art, poetry,
lots of great humor, astronomy and other sciences, photography - mine and other friends, spiritual and lover of people.

Enjoy all kinds of people from the most artistic to those who think themselves not creative but have just not yet unlocked it.

Yes, I LOVE people, even the annoying ones though no one ever said they would be immune from hearing from me about said bad attitude. :)

Keep the Joy in your heart and it will get you through anything that gets in your way in Life - a tried and true life philosophy from those who know from experience there will always be obstacles in Life. Your will must develop to be stronger and sweep aside, leap over, walk around or just plain spit on those obstacles. Hey, whatever works, right?

Journalism degree from LSU: Geaux TIGERS! (This is Louisiana where we take creative license when it comes to spelling.)

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Warriors Pearl is a small company start-up over at Cafe Press, in the Denny Lyon Gifts store. After viewing an NBC News with Brian Williams segment in 2012 detailing their lives, this store was created to raise funds and awareness for raped military women who found themselves homeless. The Pentagon still refuses to give the victims justice, protecting the guilty, doing little to nothing to address homelessness and medical needs. It's a national shame.

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The names "The Social Poets" and "Denny Lyon" and "From Denny" are copyrighted as are all photos, including family photos, text, posts and articles by Denny Lyon. Articles, posts and photos by other people are copyrighted only by them - and do not fall under copyright on this blog or Google. Copyright 2008 - 2050 of The Social Poets by Denny Lyon. All Rights Reserved. I plan on being around for a very long time. :)